Some stores opened early Wednesday to accommodate large crowds of shoppers returning unwanted gifts and seeking after-Christmas sales.

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Dillard's store manager George Tanner said the day after Christmas is the last big shopping day of the year.

"We do twice as much (sales) than we do the rest of the year in the month of December, so it's really important to us," Tanner said.

Many shoppers were seen taking to the Northpark Mall in Ridgeland on Wednesday, many saying they found deals on Christmas decorations and clothing.

U.S. shoppers spent cautiously this holiday season, a disappointment for retailers who slashed prices to lure people into stores and now must hope for a post-Christmas burst of spending.

Sales of electronics, clothing, jewelry and home goods in the two months before Christmas increased 0.7 percent compared with last year, according to the MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse report.

That was below the healthy 3 to 4 percent growth that analysts had expected — and it was the worst year-over-year performance since 2008, when spending shrank sharply during the Great Recession. In 2011, retail sales climbed 4 to 5 percent during November and December, according to ShopperTrak.

This year's shopping season was marred by bad weather and rising uncertainty about the economy in the face of possible tax hikes and spending cuts early next year. Some analysts say the massacre of schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., earlier this month may also have chipped away at shoppers' enthusiasm.

Retailers still have time to make up lost ground. The final week of December accounts for about 15 percent of the month's sales, said M